Challenge and Intensity!

I started working out at 14 with the help of my father. First membership to a gym at 16. Trained with different partners, for races, firefighting, hiking…and my passion of health and fitness. I have read a lot about training and Tracy studied human kinetics and is a certified personal trainer and has helped a great deal. It is my favorite pass time.

Coming off my injury I wanted a to get out of the training rut I was in. I have trained in power/endurace and circuits before but the boys & girls at Gymjones.com (Mark Twight) are helping me understand.

Last week was time to increase the reps toward the 300 rep circuit. First two weeks I did 70 reps in 3 minutes, rest, then did it again. But it wasn't long that I felt comfotable with that amout of reps. I did not want my mind or body to get too use to the idea that this circuit would be like this every week.

So the jump from 70 reps to 150 looked like this;
15 Pull-ups + 20 Floor wipers* with Bar bell @ 45lbs + 30 push-ups + 25 Clean & Press @ 45lbs + 20 Power Jumps + 25 Push-ups + 15 Pull-ups = 150 continuous reps in 7.57.

I was about 15 shy when I attempted this last week. But I can say that for the first time since maybe training for my adventure race, that I fell to my knees in exhaustion and muscle fatigue. It was brutal. Mind you this was a big jump in reps by 80. But with the proper training I am able to adapt quickly as I attempted the 150 on Monday and completed it in the time above and felt good afterward.

But it reminded me of a couple tips; keep the intensity up by resting only 1 to 2 mins between sets when training with weights. This will allow for proper muscle growth and increased heart rate. Super setting with to opposing muscles and drop sets (10,8,6 one after the other for 2 or 3 sets) are great for intensity.

And challenge is a big thing. Always set those goals at attainable heights but don’t make them to easy, they are supposed to be ‘challenging’ for mind and body. For ex. I wanted to hit 150 and it took me everything I had to get to 140. But this didn't mean that I would go for the 140 again I had to reach 150.

Another side note music helps many people through exercises. Pick music that puts you in a good mood or that makes you hyper. Most of my music is rather heavy ex. for the 150 rep attempt I was listing to Bang bang and then Duhast by Rammstein. All my heavy metal and punk help me a great deal.

Most people know this already, but watch out for gimmicks. All those ‘quick fix’ workouts or diets. Reason I bring this up is that I saw the Wave on CBC news one morning before work. I can see how there might be some benefit of it helping for injuries or for those who have injuries that can not move well and this maybe a help along with physio and so on.

But they went too far and stated that it can replace a daily training program of 45mins in only 15mins and help lose weight. "So that you don’t go back to the office red in the face" one woman said. Problem is you are going back to the office ripped off, that alone should make you red in the face. If this women thinks that sitting on a vibrating machine does anything more then maybe excite your libido, she is rather dense.

If something claims it can replace a hard hour workout in only 15 mins don’t give it another second of your time. All this thing does is vibrate and they say if you put a leg or other body part on it, it is like doing 34 reps in a minute; HA!

It is like the bow flex ads, great machine don’t get me wrong, but you will not get the shredded body that annoying volleyball playing "45" year old has on the commercial, by only doing the bow flex 20mins a day three days a week as recommended in the ad. That is not how he got that body there is now way. Now he may have got that way using the bow flex (along with a lot of cardio) but you are looking at minimum 1hour a day 5 to 6 days/week and I still doubt that was the only machine he used.

Stay away from the so called quick or easy fix, or miracle pills it comes from hard work and determination.